The present invention relates generally to emergency medical procedures, and more specifically to maintaining intraveneous fluids at usable temperatures, particularly at remote sites under arctic conditions.
Intravenous (xe2x80x9cIVxe2x80x9d) fluids must be kept at usable temperatures, generally above 98.6xc2x0 F. This presents an unusually severe challenge at remote sites in artic conditions. In the past, emergency medical rescuers would try to keep IV fluids warm by putting bags of fluid inside their parkas and attempting to use their body heat to warm the fluids. This was ineffective in that it was difficult to keep the bags from falling out of the parkas and body heat is insufficient to warm the fluids to an ideal temperature of 110xc2x0 F. Another problem was that once an IV is started and the IV bag is on a patient""s chest, there is no longer a heat source for the fluid because the patient is already cold. Therefore, cold fluid is being delivered to a hypothermic patient, worsening his or her condition.
A commercial IV fluid warmer is available for about $300.00, but it requires external 120 volt power, which is generally unavailable in remote arctic regions. Another commercial IV fluid warmer is available for about $350.00 that is battery operated. Unfortunately, the extreme cold of arctic regions substantially reduces the performance of batteries, so much so that, for example, in the case of battery-powered radios, the problem of keeping those radios running is already so difficult that attempting to keep another battery-powered device in operation would be more trouble than it is worth. Not only does the extreme cold reduce the life of the batteries, but they are also prone to becoming cold soaked, rendering a radio useless.
This it is seen that there is a need for a self-powered IV fluid warmer that will successfully warm and keep warm bags of IV fluid at remote sites under arctic conditions.
It is, therefore, a principal object of the present invention to provide an IV fluid warming unit that warms rapidly and stays warm for a period of time sufficient to allow use of bags of IV fluid for patient care in extremely cold environments and that does not need an external power source.
It is a feature of the present invention that it warms and keeps warm several IV bags at the same time.
It is another feature of the present invention that it also provides warmth to the patient from the outside as IV fluid is being supplied to warm the patient from the inside.
It is an advantage of the present invention that it continues to warm spare IV bags as fluid is being supplied to a patient from one of the warmed IV bags.
It is another advantage of the present invention that it can be made at a very low cost.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the description of certain representative embodiments proceeds.
The present invention provides a fast and safe apparatus and method for warming and keeping warm bags of IV fluid at remote sites in arctic conditions. The unique discovery of the present invention is that a sealable satchel containing pockets for holding chemical heating pads and webbing for holding corresponding bags of IV fluid next to the pockets provides a fast and safe apparatus for warming and keeping warm bags of IV fluid for use at remote sites under arctic conditions.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a warmer for intravenous fluids, comprising a flexible satchel, including first and second generally rectangular sides, the sides connected along a mutual edge to form a folding seam for closing the two sides together, the two sides and the satchel having corresponding insides and outsides, hook and fabric reclosable fastening strips along at least a portion of the inside of the edges of the first and second sides for securing the satchel when closed, four pockets sewn onto the inside of the first side for holding four chemical heating pads, and web straps over the inside of the second side for holding in place four intravenous fluid bags.
The present invention is also directed to a more broadly described warmer for intravenous fluids, comprising a flexible satchel, including first and second sides, the sides connected along a portion of their edges to form a folding seam for closing the two sides together, the two sides and the satchel having corresponding insides and outsides, reclosable fastening strips along at least a portion of the inside of the edges of the first and second sides for securing the satchel when closed, a first holder attached to the inside of the first side for holding at least one self-powered heating unit, and a second holder attached to the inside of the second side for holding in place at least one intravenous fluid bag.
The present invention is further directed to a method for warming intravenous fluids, comprising the steps of providing a flexible satchel, the flexible satchel including first and second generally rectangular sides, the sides connected along a mutual edge to form a folding seam for closing the two sides together, the two sides and the satchel having corresponding insides and outsides, reclosable fastening strips along at least a portion of the inside of the edges of the first and second sides for securing the satchel when closed, pockets sewn onto the inside of the first side for holding one or more chemical heating pads, and web straps over the inside of the second side for holding in place one or more intravenous fluid bags, placing at least one activated chemical heating unit inside the pockets, placing at least one intravenous fluid bag under the web straps, and closing the first and second sides together to bring any chemical heating units into thermal contact with the intravenous fluid bags.
The present invention is still further directed to a more broadly described method for warming intravenous fluids, comprising the steps of providing a flexible satchel, the flexible satchel including first and second sides, the sides connected along a portion of their edges to form a folding seam for closing the two sides together, the two sides and the satchel having corresponding insides and outsides, reclosable fastening strips along at least a portion of the inside of the edges of the first and second sides for securing the satchel when closed, a first holder attached to the inside of the first side for holding at least one self-powered heating unit and a second holder attached to the inside of the second side for holding in place at least one intravenous fluid bag, placing at least one self-powered heating unit inside the first holder, placing at least one intravenous fluid bag inside the second holder, and closing the first and second sides together to bring any self-powered heating units into thermal contact with any intravenous fluid bags.